Just like to say I'm up for any plan to get GF on TV

[dtadamson]

If GF is to make it to screen somewhere we are going to need somewhere to get everyone together and put a plan in place.

Perhaps it's here.

Waiting for others to get here.

[Tic-Tac-Taz]

Right, well I second that

I'm out of the moderation queue (cheers mods), so let's crack our knuckles and get started.

As an early poster I'm going to suggest a few things and hopefully someone brighter than me is reading and will add useful discussion.

1) from today's post it seems that John has lines that he's following and he's really best placed to strategise, but that doesn't mean we can't knock it back and forth in here. Who know's perhaps we'll come up with a killer idea that he can use and we can act on.

2) Warren Ellis has made it abundantly clear in his Bad Signal List that he wishes to have no part in a 'grass roots' movement to resurrect the GF TV show. This doesn't necessarily mean he disapproves, but pestering him is unlikely to elicit anything useful at this point.

3) My feeling is that money or numbers are most likely to talk when it comes to whether this show has a future or not. So I would suggest we focus on some solutions that provide proof of the shows viability.

Someone over at Kung Fu Monkey suggested listing an item (which in no-way infringes copyright) on Amazon and getting people to pre-order. Equally if we could find out the cost for a short DVD replication run perhaps a fundable.org project could be set up.

On numbers, if the rights-holders involved could be persuaded to release an offical download of the pilot then the popularity of the show could be easily rated from DLs. I'm a UK resi, but I believe that abc released a Lost catch-up file for DL as a marketing excercise, so this isn't completely unprecedented. The new Dr. Who certainly got buzz and extra reporting inches by being leaked just before airing.

I'm going to leave this now as it's turning into a monster post, but we should certainly talk about advocacy/marketing and whether we could bump the sales of the GF TBP and convince DC/WB that this has stirred interest.

Come on guys don't let this show die, because we lacked imagination or application.

[Tic-Tac-Taz]

The Sound of One Hand Clapping

Ho hum, misjudged this one a bit.

One man crusade is it then?

[xtremesage]

No, I don't think it is.

People are interested in doing something, but have been burnt by fan campaigns going nowhere in the past.

My feeling is that people are kind of waiting to hear from John and see if we even SHOULD try something, or if it's dead before it starts.

[dtadamson]

The point with other fan campaigns is they are trying to prove a show can turn round and get the numbers back on the ratings.

That's often unlikely as people have normally made up their minds by then.

However this is about a show that never even reached the air - we really have nothing to lose.

And if this one does work... other Sci-fi shows will get the benefit.

[Tic-Tac-Taz]

xtremesage
My tongue was firmly in my cheek on the "one man crusade" comment. I was just surprised that more discussion hadn't spilt over from John's blog.

I take your point on there being a Firefly-effect, with some feeling jaded, but there seem to be people interested in GF who wouldn't usually get involved in this sort of thing (me included, it probably shows). Additionally, is fear of failure a reason not to discuss what could be done for the show?

I'm also with dtadamson, we have a different proposition here as this show hasn't even had a chance to 'fail' (for a TV exec def. of failure) in the market place yet.

Naturally, John is in an excellent position to judge what might be a succesful. Ulitmately, that may require miminal input from us, but an active discussion may bring up ideas he hasn't thought of or that haven't been tried before but can be applied here.

If nothing else John has asked for links to reviews and discussion, which I suspect he wants to show there is great interest in seeing more of this show.

We might be p***ing in the wind, but let's whistle whilst we do it.

[mythfish]

*whistles*

As John says, "The odds of this working are way, way too small to take seriously." But any stupid self-help book will tell you that fear of failure is a terrible reason not to try.

I think the Amazon pre-order idea and the official download idea are both good ideas, but they both rely on the cooperation of WB and DC to make it happen, so before we could convince them to pick up the show they'd have to be convinced to let us convince them. (Did that sentence make sense?)

I've seen it suggested here and elsewhere that sales of the graphic novels may get the suits to take notice. I think it would take a heck of a lot of sales for that to happen. As a strategy on its own, I'd say that's a lost cause (in part because I'm sure a large part of the active fan base already has them). However, sales of the books certainly won't hurt the cause and to that end I've already convinced a couple friends to buy them. And I think Warren might be more supportive of a campaign that involved buying lots of copies of his books.

As you said, Tic, it comes down to numbers and money. In the end, I think the money speaks louder. So the question we should be pondering is "How do we convince the networks there is money to made when there isn't really a product yet?"

[Tic-Tac-Taz]

Originally posted by mythfish


And I think Warren might be more supportive of a campaign that involved buying lots of copies of his books.

Tee hee.

I should have kept a closer eye on warrenellis.com seems Mr. Ellis had the same idea himself

http://www.warrenellis.com/index.php?p=916

But seriously folks if you've caught the pilot (by accident, naturally) and didn't read GF then pick up copies of volume 1 and 2 of the collected trade paperback from Amazon. I don't know if Warren gets a bump from you clicking the adverts on his page, but it couldn't hurt. Just follow the link above.

[Tic-Tac-Taz]

Getting bored of reading my own posts, but isn't the Google Video service going live today?

There's a nice easy solution for WB/DC. Stick the pilot up on Google Vid mark it as paid content and see how many go for it.

Could perhaps even form part of future market testing.

Two huge caveats though.

1) The google payment service isn't up yet.

2) WB aren't listed on the about page as having searchable content.

http://video.google.com/video_about.html

I know, I know, I'm reaching now, but things are a little dead in here.

Apart from Kung-Fu Monkey are people hanging out somewhere else to talk about GF, or are you all keeping a low profile ready to pounce ninja-like when the call goes out and your cell rings?

If all goes well I wonder if JR will be able to resist a post starting "This is John Rogers, you're on the Global Frequency."

[achilles]

Hey, dont know if u have but i got to see the episode, and i was wondering did u guys know the name of the song played at the end is you saw it?

[achilles]

Never mind. It's called insolence-poison well and the one played before it is Jimmy eat world-my sundown.

[Tic-Tac-Taz]

It looks as if the BBC are at least pursuing new ways of providing content (link).

From the article:
"It is one of a number of pilots that BBC Television will be undertaking over the next few months, exploiting the opportunities that new technologies offer to look at how programmes might be delivered beyond the traditional linear broadcast."

This is why I pay my license fee and also why I've signed up to beta their 'watch again' service Interactive Media Player. Who needs TiVo? Well apart from for all the non-BBC channels

Now, if only the BBC would commission GF. Judging by Dr. Who the budget might be a bit of a stretch though

[KSiteTV]

I wish the BBC would offer their programs to us here in the States.

Downloading Doctor Who every week is a pain. I'd gladly pay xx dollars per season or whatever to get it direct from the BBC. Maybe TV series by subscription is something we'll someday see.

[TomC]

There are already online services that do TV subscriptions, but for obvious reasons the big TV cos don't want to play ball.
Whch basicaly sucks, but then it's not about good TV anymore :-(

As to a grass roots fan thing, I think we should just wait and see for the moment, no harm in telling everyone about it in the mean time though :-)

[kcox6751]

So am I! I really want a DVD or a showing on TV! I think it might do good on FOX... but I'm up FOR ANYTHING! I really wanna see this Pilot. Cyberdave's review.... not good.